Here is a question on the Rapture from a regular reader: “When analyzing the Book of Revelation, at what chapter(s) would you insert the Rapture taking place?”
Revelation 4-22 discuss the time after the Rapture, with chaps. 4-19 dealing with the Tribulation, chap. 20 discussing the Millennium, and chaps. 21-22 covering the eternal kingdom on the new earth.
Since chaps. 2-3 deal with seven first-century churches, the Rapture will occur after chap. 3 and before chap. 4.
The Rapture is not specifically mentioned in the Book of Revelation. Many Dispensationalists suggest that the Rapture is being referred to in Rev 3:10 and Rev 12:5. (Many other verses are suggested as well.) See this article at Bible.org for more details. This article quotes Mounce in his commentary on Revelation, saying, “the very discussion of a ‘rapture of the church’ lies outside John’s frame of reference” (Mounce, Revelation, rev. ed., p 119).
However, even if Rev 3:10 and Rev 12:5 do not refer to the Rapture (I think they might, but at this point I am not convinced), the Rapture is easy to infer based on the word church (ecclēsia) in Revelation. It is found 20 times in Revelation. Guess where? There are three uses in chap. 1, sixteen uses in chaps. 2-3, and only one use after that. There are no uses in Revelation 4-19 in the discussion of the Tribulation. Surely if the church were in the Tribulation, we would hear about that in Revelation. The last use is in Rev 22:16, after the discussion of the new earth in Rev 21:1–22:5 and after the last discussion of eternal rewards (Rev 22:12-14).
Clearly the church will be in the Millennium and on the new earth. But, just as clearly, the church will not be in the Tribulation for “God has not appointed us for wrath, but to obtain salvation [from the Tribulation wrath] through our Lord Jesus Christ…” (1 Thess 5:9).
I might add that we could ask the same question regarding Israel. Why is Israel only mentioned three times in Revelation (2:14; 7:4; 21:12)? I do not know. But Israel is mentioned as being in the Tribulation, whereas the church is not.
The nations are mentioned 21 times in Revelation, including during the Tribulation.
In the Millennium, all three groups, Israel, the church, and the nations, will be present. Yet only the nations are mentioned in Revelation 20 (vv. 3 and 8).
The Rapture is clearly taught in other texts in the NT (Matt 24:36-44; 1 Thess 4:13-18; 5:9-10). Therefore, whether the Book of Revelation discusses the pre-Tribulation Rapture (as some Dispensationalists argue), or whether it does not, believers today will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air before the Tribulation begins.
